User Experience
The latest User Experience coverage — news, analysis, and updates from the WindowsNews.AI desk.
Microsoft’s Copilot Avatars: Voice-Powered AI Faces, Capped at 20 Minutes Per Day
Microsoft is testing a Copilot experiment that gives the AI a face — actually, 40 faces. The new feature, called Portraits, lets users select from a set of animated 3D avatars and hold voice...
Xbox Gaming Copilot Goes Live on Windows 11: How to Use the AI Game Coach
After months of quiet testing with Xbox Insiders, Microsoft is flinging open the doors to its Gaming Copilot. Starting today, the AI-powered helper is rolling out to Windows 11 users...
Paint Update: .paint Project Files and Opacity Slider Now in Insider Testing
Microsoft is giving Windows 11’s built-in Paint app its most significant workflow upgrade in years. Starting this week, Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels can save layered compositions...
Forced to Switch to New Outlook? A Practical Guide to What’s Changed and What to Do
Microsoft formally pulled the plug on the classic Windows Mail and Calendar apps at the end of 2024, and by February 2025 many Windows 10 and 11 users found the new Outlook silently installed as...
Notepad Goes Offline: On-Device AI Arrives for Copilot+ PCs, No Subscription Needed
Microsoft just did something unexpected with its oldest app: Notepad can now reason like a modern AI, entirely on your device. Starting with a preview for Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev...
Apple’s Sports Widget Lands on macOS, Windows 11 Users Left Asking: Where Are Our Widgets?
Apple this week expanded its sports widget to macOS, replicating the iPhone and iPad experience with live scores and schedules directly on the desktop. For Windows 11 users, it’s a sharp reminder...
Windows 11’s Speed Test Shortcut Opens Bing: What It Means and How to Use It
A new “Perform speed test” option has appeared in recent Windows 11 Insider builds, tucked into the taskbar network flyout and right-click menu. Tap it, and instead of a native diagnostic, your...
Microsoft to Automatically Install Copilot App on All Windows 365 PCs in October, EEA Excluded
Microsoft will begin automatically installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows devices running the M365 desktop apps starting early October 2025, a move that thrusts the company’s AI...
Silent Copilot Push: Microsoft’s 365 AI App Auto-Installs on Windows, But You Can Block It
Microsoft plans to quietly push the Microsoft 365 Copilot app onto Windows devices starting in the fall of 2025—a move that will affect millions of business and consumer machines, but one that...
Microsoft Plants a Bing Speed Test Shortcut in the Taskbar and Teases AI Oversight in New Insider Builds
A quiet update this week to Windows 11 Insider Preview builds plants a one-click internet speed test directly into the taskbar network flyout, but it’s not the native diagnostic tool power users...
Microsoft Tests Blocking Full-Screen Microsoft 365 Renewal Prompt in Windows 11
Microsoft planted a full-screen billing reminder inside the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview, reusing the Second-Chance Out-of-Box Experience (SCOOBE) to warn testers when a Microsoft 365...
Microsoft Migrates Clock, Language, and Region Controls to Settings in Windows 11 Build 27928
Microsoft has packed six long-standing Control Panel features into the Settings app with the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27928 to the Canary channel. The August 20 flight relocates...